Heya! There's lots of time jumps in this chapter, so you gotta read those sqiggles else you might get a tad bit confused... or you could be ridiculously smart and I'm underestimating everyone. Sorry.

EpicGuestReveiw003: Nope, that's mine. Photoshop does wonders :)
Angi: That's... a very early time to even be alive. And you're reading this? *grabs heart* my ego... no... it cant handle this... AGH! (thank you! XD)
Sophi: NOOO I didn't mean to seem needy! Im so sorry! I meant that, plotwise, poop-all happened. Also all my chapters seem mundane when I reread them... but I think that happens to everyone who rereads their stuff. IDK man. but thank you!

~~~~~~~~One Year Earlier~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei sat in her room, clipping the dead branches off of Butter and muttering to it about drugs and her serious lack of friends. She was currently grounded for being a mutant. She'd actually found out two years earlier – when she was fourteen, that she could control and reshape rocks. She'd finally told her parents earlier that morning, and even gave a demonstration by shaping some into pretty flowers …pretty blotchy block flowers – she didn't practice much; but flowers none the less!

They weren't impressed.

She sighed unhappily. She was no longer allowed outside, with friends, or even to school. The worst part was that Lorelei knew she was a bit of a late bloomer even when it came to mutant powers… and sort of lame. Hi, I'm Lorelei, and I talk to rocks. Not a great conversation starter for parties. She frowned and picked up the stone that she had placed in the flowerbox next to Butter. She sat with it resting in her palm and tried to form it into something; it wasn't working very well, it was a stubborn rock. She was trying to make a stone flower partner for her Butter, but it ended up looking like a bulbous lollipop.

"Shut up Butter, rocks are hard to shift! … I don't care if it's ugly, you can't judge a rock by its exterior… maybe she's really pretty on the inside, like and igneous rock with pretty purple crysta- I AM NOT MAKING YOU TWO! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A FLOWER! I will not allow polygamy in my bedroom, now shut up and eat your vitamins." Lorelei dumped a bit of water onto her flower and dropped the rock back into the box, annoyed.

She collapsed onto the windowsill overlooking her cliff and leaned her head against the glass. It was a really pretty day outside; there were bunnies and butterflies and Mama probably swearing down by her flower garden. There was also a fat pigeon cooing next to the creepy griffin statue one level down from her window. She hated that statue. When she was little she had asked her dad to get rid of it because it gave her nightmares… but he never got around to it. Sometimes she'd think that it was watching her from outside her window and was trying to get it. I hate, hate, hate, hate that thing. She considered climbing onto the roof and shoving it off, but decided against it. Papa will kill me.

Lorelei turned her back to the window and slid down to the floor. She sat across from her cupboard mirror, and eyed her very normal looking self. I don't even look like a mutant. There's nothing about me that screams, 'HEY IM FREAKY!' So how can Mama and Papa be so mad when I don't even look the part?
'You can't judge a rock by its exterior-'
SHUT UP, BUTTER!

~~~~~~~~Present~~~~~~~~~

Professor X read over the introductory papers his students had turned in to him. He had asked them the day before to write a one page paper with their general information and abilities, and then hand that same paper around to five different people. Those five would in turn write something nice about them on the back and draw a picture. Since most people in his class were either second or third years, they generally knew who everyone else was. Except, of course, for Lorelei.

Lorelei had the literacy capabilities of an eighth grader and the artistic skills of a two year old, and considering she was seventeen… she was a bit behind. Professor X sighed and rubbed his brow. Didn't they teach her anything in Germany?

He turned her page over and stopped at Kurt's. Lorelei had drawn a piece of poop with flies on Kurt's page and called him a butt – something she had picked up from Kitty. That is completely unnecessary.
He turned his mind to the inhabitants of the mansion and sought Lorelei's out. When he couldn't find her telltale daydreaming of plots of mansion-domination, he searched for her elevator music. He eventually found it resting on the roof again. He couldn't get through to her when she was griffin-fied… he'd have to wait until she was human again.

~~~~~~~~OoO~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei was busy sunning herself on the roof and enjoying the fact that she was back to her regular size when felt the familiar twinge in the back of her head as Professor X tried to enter her mind. Crazy old man won't leave me be. She stretched and yawned like a cat, scratching her front talons against the soft roof tiles. She sighed happily, and flopped over onto her back and wriggled, trying to get comfy again. It wasn't working. She ground her wings into the shingles and tried to make an indent in the stone until she slid off the side of the roof and slammed headfirst into Storms spiral plant.

Ohhhh, that… almost hurt. She looked up, "It's okay!" She shouted. "The giant spiky thing broke my fall."
Piotr glanced up from the step he was sitting on and watched as Lorelei shook bits of pottery and dirt from her shoulders. "For giant stone beast that feels no pain… you are not so scary." He put his book down and smiled at her. "Might be good thing."
"How is not-scary a good thing?" Lorelei sat on her haunches and tried to reattach a broken nail.
"For one, small children do not run away from you in fear."
"I hate kids."
"…Then is bad thing."

They sat there, awkwardly, each waiting for the other person to say something. Nothing.
"Vell this vas a riveting conversation, but I have to go shower now."
Piotr nodded and glanced back down to his book, then looked up suddenly. "Do not get Little Bird wet."
Lorelei grinned, "Not a problem… I shower naked."
Piotr turned red as if the idea of showering naked was so novel, and awkwardly shoved his face back into his book as she passed. She changed back into her human form when she walked through the door, and was instantly hit with a barrage of telepathic shouting.

"STOP SCREAMING!" She howled and covered her ears.
There was silence for several seconds, and she uncovered her face.
I need to talk to you, Professor X thought.
Lorelei looked down the hall to where the Professors office was. The door was closed, but she imagined him sitting there, upset about something; he only called her in when she did something wrong.
Nein, I am showering.
Now.
I said no. And with that, Lorelei skipped to the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~OoO~~~~~~~~~

Ernest Stillman stared at the rows of cages that housed his kidnapped mutants and humans. It was feeding time, and workers were going to each cage one by one and making sure no one escaped. He usually overlooked the whole process, just in case something happened. When nothing did and everyone had been fed, he left and went upstairs to his wife.
"I've made up my mind." He looked her in the eye and dared her to tell him otherwise.
"Oh?" She looked up from the quilt she was busy making.
"We're going to America."
Mrs. Stillman stared at her husband, impassive. They had argued about this before, and she was tired of it. "Fine."

~~~~~~~~Six Months Earlier~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei had spent half a year inside the Stillman's estate before her father finally approached her. He kneeled down in front of her, and took her smaller hands in his large ones.

"Lorelei, sweetheart."
Oh dear God.
"Dumpling?"
He's going to kill me.
"Sugar-pie."
He wants my soul.
"Sunshine."
Why is he being so nice?
"My little baby."
Why is he talking to me now?
"My cherub."
Lorelei leaned back from her father a bit and eyed him fearfully. What is he going to do? "…Ja…?"
"I have a job for you and your… special powers."
"… Job?"
"Remember all that time ago, when that man came and talked to daddy?"
Lorelei thought back to that night several years ago. She was ten, and Papa had told her to wait upstairs. "Ja?"
Well, he gave Papa a job then… and now I have a job for you too, sugar… filling."
Silence.
"Vat do you want me to do?"

She didn't like her father's business, especially not the captured people part. She was okay with the rest – she was out of touch with the world by this point, and had found an angry Irishman in the basement. Garvey was fun to mess with.
"All I need you to do is watch the back door."
Lorelei looked at him quizzically. "But the backdoor doesn't-"
"That's the point darling. It's a trap."
A silent 'oooooh' came out of Lorelei's mouth, and her mind wandered to the fact that she was grounded.
"So… I'm not grounded?"
"Yes… and no. You're grounded in the sense that you can't leave the estates grounds."
Lorelei glanced out her window sadly. I'll never leave these grounds…?

~~~~~~~~Present~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei towel dried her hair like a crazed animal and flipped it over her shoulder. Close enough. It was still sopping wet and made a huge streak down the back of her shirt. She threw the unwanted towel into her dirty stuff pile next to the window and realized she'd left the curtains open. The open window gave her a nice view of the boring line of trees outside, and she realized that she was just as much a captive now as she was six months earlier. I'll never leave these grounds.
I still need to talk to you.
Damnit Baldie you're annoying.
Please come see me in my office.
I shan't, it's my birthday.
It's isn't, Lorelei. But if you come down I'll let you go shopping with Storm and a few others.
Lorelei thought hard about this. She didn't enjoy shopping with other people; she'd rather do it on her own. She was, however, bored – and this was a way to get out the house.

Can I ride the five cent ponies?
Whatever you like.
Be there in two seconds.

It took Lorelei more than two seconds to go downstairs. It was more like eleven, and she even tripped on the way down. She burst through the door excitedly and knocked over the potted palm again. It toppled over and spat out whatever dirt was left in it from the last time she bumped into it, and it finally came to a rest at Storms feet.
"That was fast." Storm bent down and picked up the foiled ficus and propped it back up against the wall. She patted Lorelei's shoulder as she left the room, "Meet us in the garage when you're done talking with the professor."
Lorelei watched her shut the door softly, and then turned to the Professor.
"Ja?"
Professor X motioned to the seat across from him.
Aw. It's one of those lectures.
Professor X waited for her to get comfortable. After much butt wiggling and chair squeaking he raised an eyebrow and ahem-ed.
Lorelei stopped and looked up at him.
"Finished?" he asked.
Lorelei squeaked one more time, paused, then nodded yes.

Professor X smiled, slightly amused, and pulled out Kurt's paper. He tapped on it and then pushed it forward to her. "Do you recognize this?"
Lorelei grinned wickedly. "Ja."
Professor X sighed. It wasn't the reason he had called her down, and she didn't even seem to be sorry about the poop. He pulled the sheet back and shuffled it in between the rest of the papers. Professor X was suddenly very interested in making all them line up, and he talked to her while straightening their edges. "Lorelei, I need to ask you something."
"Vat?"
"How do you feel about the people in this house? Do you really not like any of them, or is there someone you can connect with?"

He watched her face and read her mind as is quickly flashed through all the people she knew, and the emotions she had attached to them. Kurt – irritation, Beast – exasperation, Logan – disgust, Scott – disinterest, Jean – unsure, Remy – indifference, Storm – also disinterest, Kitty – condescending, Piotr – amusement. He noticed she made sure not to think about him at all, and she tried very hard to keep her mind from rabbit-trailing to her parents. She, like most people, focused on the person's name or face when she tried not to think of them - giving away who exactly she was trying not to think of. Right now she was focusing on her fathers face, and he watched as her mind twisted into a window, then a garden, a griffin, a pile of rocks, back to her father. It twisted again and she tried to think of the sun on the roof and Piotr on the steps, but that switched back to a little girl in uniform on school steps, that turned to a yellow flower, and then her mind suddenly wandered to Mormons and vitamins. What… Professor X wondered. How is any of this related? He looked down and scratched the back of his hand, pretending he wasn't reading her mind as he waited for her to answer.

"Nein." She answered after thoughts of golden doors and bookshelves. She was now thinking it would be a good idea to jump into her griffin-form. Professor X watched her from across his desk and wondered if he should make Piotr her mentor and "warden" instead of Kurt, since he was the only one with a positive feeling associated with his name. He decided against it in the end, remembering that Piotr was gentle in nature, and Lorelei was quite brash. He won't be able to stop her if she decided to leave, well, he's more than capable physically - but he wouldn't want to do it.

"Vell if that's all, I'm leaving." Lorelei jumped up from the chair and rushed out before Professor X asked her to feel again.
"Wa-" Professor X stopped – hand reaching out into thin air to pull her back. He lowered it back onto the desk and watched her fleeing form as she skidded around a corner. He eased the grip on the bag in his left hand, and sighed. Another day, then.

~~~~~~~~Five Months Earlier~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei stood with her back against the wall, alternating between hyperventilating and sobbing. She had a large gash on her arm, but was too terrified to even feel any pain. The men that had tried to enter the backdoor had all successfully been taken out by the mutant-guards that Papa had hired to watch over the estate. The mutants had quickly learned of the threat, but some intruders had remained hidden. Lorelei had been unfortunate enough to find one and managed to get him into a crude stone cocoon before he could knock her out. It was his friend that grabbed her and tried to stab her neck, and missed. Lorelei had had a months' worth of practice with her powers by then, and could send rocks hurtling through the air. She hit him with one, which was what caused him to miss.

She had immediately rushed to the wall and pressed herself against it, hoping she had some dormant chameleon powers to make her invisible. She had none, but by then the guards had located the two she had knocked out and took them out – permanently. Lorelei looked at the guards, half expecting them to at least ask if she was okay – she was their boss's daughter after all. They didn't, and left without a word.

Dejected and in pain, she walked inside her home, all the while trying to stem the flow of blood. Papa was in a meeting, so she had to sit in the unused kitchen while Mama grumbled about doing everything and bloody kids. After an hour of agony, Mama had patched her daughter up and bandaged the wound as best she could.
Lorelei inspected her booboo and patted it gingerly, "Vill be okay soon?" she asked.
"Hopefully you get tetanus..." Mama mumbled.
"Vat?"
"JA, TEN DAYS!" her mother yelled.

Lorelei watched her mother mill about in the kitchen a while longer before heading back upstairs to her room. After Butters daily feeding, she morphed his girlfriend into a rose. Lorelei was able to shape and control almost any rock by this point with a bit of sweat and struggle. She stared deeply into Butters nonexistent eyes.
It would be nice to be a rock, she told him, I would get scratched and I would not bleed. Or feel pain… and I won't feel sad because rocks feel nothing. She got up from her bed and shoved the rock rose back into the dirt, and turned out the light. I won't be able to go outside tomorrow, she thought sleepily. She pulled the sheets closer to her chin and snuggled in, I'll practice throwing rocks instead.

~~~~~~~~Present~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei sat at the back of the mom-van, arms crossed and face hidden behind her fringe. All around her people were screaming at each other and throwing things – Oreos, wrappers, curses - it was aggravating.
She grabbed ahold of the nearest kid by the shirt front and hissed through her teeth at him, "Shut. Your. Cake. Hole."
There was silence in the car, and she released his wrinkled shirt.
"Now, now, Lorelei, we all have the liberty to speak." Storm scolded from the driver's seat.
"JA, IN CIVIL TONES!"
"Lorelei you're shouting!"
"I VILL CRUSH YOUR SOULS!"
"Agh." Storm made a sound somewhere between disgust and a snort, and stared angrily at the road before her.

The rest of the car ride was uneventful, aside from the bump that made Piotr spill his drink on some first-year kid. He apologized for the rest of the drive and practically begged to buy her a new shirt. After parking, Lorelei almost flew out the car and fell to her knees outside.

"AAAAIIIIIRRRR!"
"Lorelei get up, you're making a scene." Kitty tapped the top of her head and helped pull her up.
"Vat? Air is good. I breathe air. Air is my middle name."
"It isn't." Kitty frowned at the little German, then broke out into a grin. "C'mon, I'll show you the best stores. It'll be great." She tugged at Lorelei's belt loop and pulled her with her.
"But vat about the ponies?!"
"Later!"
They sprinted into the mall as Storm called out for everyone to meet in two hours by the main doors.

~~~~~~~~Five Months Earlier~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei juggled some rocks, trying to amuse herself in her room. This day is probably number nine hundred and forty five in my Best Days Ever book. She pulled the massive scrapbook out from under her bed and turned to that page. She flipped a photo over and nodded absentmindedly to herself; make that nine hundred and forty seven. She slammed it shut and watched as the little dust bunnies tried to scamper away. I need to clean.

She spent the rest of that uneventful day single handedly cleaning her entire room. Literally single handedly… her other arm had the gash. She threw underwear into a hamper and papers in the bin, cleaned a skeleton out of her cupboard and even washed the ceiling - she used a small rock platform to stand on and levitated it up to the roof.

She was finishing up drying her windows when it finally caught her eye – that damn griffin. It always sat on the roof - a great granite idiot - waiting for something… Someone needs to do something about that thing, it's large and pointless and it gives me nightmares. She stared at it intently, hoping it would suddenly become sentient and fly away. Well, I'm on a roll today, she figured, if I'm cleaning my room, I might as well clean that griffin… OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!

~~~~~~~~Present~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei tripped into a mannequin and mumbled an apology before turning around and knocking over a bookstand and running away in fear.
"Lorelei!" Kitty called her to come clean up her mess, but Lorelei was hiding in the clothes rack.
"You have made mess, Little Bird." Piotr pulled back the rack of clothes and exposed Lorelei's hiding spot.
"Nein, it vas the Griffin King." She tugged on a pair of jeans and tried to close the clothes door.

Piotr pooh-poohed at her answer and pulled her out. He was holding on to the first-years new shirt that he was about to buy to make up for the one he ruined. "If you make mess, you clean. Do not hide from problems, it only gets worse."
"Your problems about to get a lot worse if you don't let go of me."
Piotr let go of her arm like he had been stung, and shuffled over to the check-out counter. He looked back once as if he were expecting to get a shoe thrown at him or something.
"Don't be so mean to him!" Kitty chided as she helped Lorelei pick up the books. "He's like an overgrown baby… an overgrown metal baby that can break almost anything… he's cute."
Lorelei looked over at Kitty. "Vat?"
"What?"
"Vat did you just say?"
"What?"
"No… the baby…"
"I didn't-"
"Shush, just shush." Lorelei smacked a book on Kitty's head and placed the last one back in its spot. "Done."

"Finally." Kitty brushed her hands against her pant leg and pushed her hair behind her ear. "We need to get you some clothes. You can't wear jeans and tees all the time."
"I can."
Kitty nodded, "Well you can, but at least make them different."
Lorelei grabbed the jeans that had made up her hiding-door a few seconds ago. "Found some, I am done."
Kitty grabbed them, "One, these are maternity pants, and two, they are way too long for you."
"You're only mad you can't pull them off."
"Lorelei these go up to your chin!" She held them up to her face, and Lorelei gawked.
"How tall do you people get?"
"You're just short." Kitty threw the pants back onto the rack, and dragged Lorelei through the rest of the department. "We'll go look through the petites."
"I AM A GIAN-!"
"Stop yelling!"

~~~~~~~~Five Months Earlier~~~~~~~~~

Lorelei looked deeply into the statues eyes. She wanted it to feel fear. She wanted it to know that she was the master of the earth (technically, literally) and ruler of the rocks. I vill crush you, and your dreams of flight. She poked it in the forehead. You give me nightmares? Pah. I vill give you permanent sleep. She circled it, feeling crazy… but hey, she already talks to rocks and flowers.

She stopped at one of its wings and placed her palm against it. There was a small line in the stone indicating two different rock types. Granite and slate? Those don't mix well. How can this thing stay together for so long? The statue had been below her window long before she or even her grandparents were born, it should have at least had some weathering on it - but it appeared to be quite new.

Lorelei plopped onto the grass in front of it. After cleaning her room, she had snuck outside and shifted the statue off the roof when the guards weren't looking. She sat a ways away from them now in the wildflower field, overlooking her cliff. She'd moved the statue with her, and planned on kicking it off the cliff 300 style after she was done instilling some fear in its hardened heart.

She looked up at its giant head. It wasn't really its fault that it was stupid and scary; it was just made that way. She rolled her eyes. Fine, she sighed, I won't slaughter you senselessly; I'll just crush your bones and scatter them, how about that? She rolled onto her back and then onto her side and got up. This will be good rock-shifting practice. Placing her palm against the statues chest, she willed the stones existence into scattering into a million pieces… but she couldn't do it, it was too big. She punched it with her good arm and tried again, and again, and again, but got the same results.

A different approach then. Usually to control rocks, she had to get them in her sight, or feel them. For bigger rocks she actually had to be holding onto them and… 'understanding' them. They weren't just rocks; she had to wrap her mind around the fact that they were living "things", and literally control them with just her mind. With tiny rocks she exerted her mutant powers physically; with big ones she did it mentally.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her mind firmly against the stone. She imaged it in her head; each grain of sand and all its rocky atoms, and thought she felt them splitting under her fingertips. You are mine, rock, you and all your stoniness. It was giving her a headache though, so… close… she pushed a little harder. She shoved her mind inside of the stone, willing it to break. Maybe if she thought heard enough she could punch through it. She went with it, but only got halfway before the rock stated healing. In her terror to pull back out she forgot to keep digging, and the stony wall closed around her mind.

~~~~~~~~Present~~~~~~~~~

Kitty eyed the shoes on her feet and finally admitted that they really didn't match anything at all.
"Those look like butt."
"Lorelei you're not using that word right. Butt is something you say when… oh forget it." She pulled of the shoes and stuck them back in the box. "I'm done. See anything you like?"
Lorelei eyed the five-cent carousel outside the department store. "Ja, that pony."
"Forget the carousel, we'll do that later."
"Where is Kurt?" Lorelei looked around, suddenly realizing that she hadn't seen Kurt around for a while.
"He left like, four days ago dummy. I think he went to Germany or something…" Kitty grabbed her hangers and left the changing room.
Lorelei trailed after her, how come I never get to go to Germany? "Vat for?"
"Dunno."
The girls finally gathered their things and waited in the queue for an elderly lady to find her purse.

At the checkout counter, Lorelei sneaked a bag of gummies in with Kitty purchase, and then tried to tell her it was a free gift. After Kitty made her return the bag, Piotr rebought it to make Lorelei feel better. Storm made Piotr take it back because Lorelei did not need the sugar, and already had over two hundred dollars' worth of clothes in her bags. Lorelei bought the bag herself in the end, but had it stolen by some Australian clown with fire-powers when she wasn't looking. The Australian guy shared it with his friends, who in turn all woke up with rocks in their mouths the next morning. Professor X confronted a very innocent Lorelei over the matter, who professed to have no recollection of gummy bags; but prescribed the boys illnesses as "rock-jaw" – lock jaw for people with rocks. Dr. McCoy said there was no such documented illness, and suggested that Lorelei was lying. Lorelei threatened to crush his soul, and blamed the Griffin King. Professor X decided that Lorelei was no longer allowed to go shopping without a set amount of money to spend, and gave her a light scolding. Australian clown got stuck with doing dishes for a week, and sometimes Lorelei would use two plates. In the end, the only thing that was great about the day was the five cent ponies, which Lorelei rode for an hour in the mall.

Day two hundred and eighty five.

Das chapter ten yo *tears* we've come so far, you and me Reader. *Pats computer screen and whispers* thanks for reading.